Lifting device



. N. w. KYLE- LIFTING DEVICE Filed 00%. 5, 1921 s sheets-sheet 1 attain;

Apr. 10,1923.

N. w. KYLE LIFT ING DEVICE Filed Oct. 5, 1921 5 sheets-sheet 2 Apr. 10, 1923.

N. W. KYLE LIFTING DEVICE Filed Oct. 5, 1921 5 sheets-sheet 3 e17: ZlA/i'yle Patented Apr. 10, 1923.

UNITED Ame rmr NICHOLAS w. KYLE, or ooLrAx, IIZLINOIS."

LIFTIN G DEVICE.

' Application filed October 3, 1921. 'Serial No. 504,945.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NICHOLAS W." KYLE,

- a citizen of the United States, residing at Colfax, in the county of McLean andState of Illinois, have invented new and useful' Improvements in Lifting Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to lifting devices and is adaptable particularly to trucks, wagons, elevator grain dumps, operating tables, etc., in fact, is adaptable to practically all types of devices wherein a tilting or movable body is employed.

The invention in the present instance is an improvement over the device disclosed by my former patent dated October 25, 1898,No. 612,948; the improvement per se residing in the specific. mechanism employed for causing the table or body to be raised or lowered upon its support.

A particular object of the invention is to provide means of simplified and improved,

construction whereby the table or body may be quickly, easily and Wit/1115111001711 operation raised or lowered-the desiredlimit, and wherein a minimum amount of energy only is required in the performance of these operations.v

A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus of the character stated wherein the extensible means connecting the table or movable body with therotor or power, device is of light weight and capable of being. manufactured and assembled easily, and wherein the'said parts collapse or fold properly one upon the other in neat and compact arrangement when the body is lowered, and which extend themselves automatically and in a smooth manner when the rotoriis operated so asto elevate the table or body. v

IVith these and other objects in view,

the inventionconsi'sts of the features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter. fully described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a side elevation of an; elevat ing or lifting device constructed in accordance with the lIIVGI1t10I1,thG v1ew lllustrating the same as appliedto a conventional:

type of dumping truck, the elevating mechanism beingshown in a position wherein the body of the truck has been raised to itsex tremc upward limit,

' Figure 2 is a similar view and showing the truck body in a lowered position,

Figure 3 1s a similar view'showing the dumping body in an intermediate position,

tion with vehicle truck of thatjcharacter I wherein the body thereof is tiltably' mounted upon the frame or chassis so as to'be capable of dumping the load when required. It will be understood, however, that the elevating device mayyequally as well be used in connection with other types of dumping vehicles, tables, elevating devices of various types, in fact, it may be successfully carried out in connection with most all types of devices wherein an elevating and lowering action of a body is required. In the drawing, 8 indicatesthe base or support, inthe present instance thesame including theside' rails of "the vehicle body, and 9 the line of the rear wall of .thecab or house carried by the said chassis or frame. "10 represents generally the tilting body to be elevated and lowered.

Mounted in suitable bearings upon the body 8, and preferably upon theside bars thereof, is a shaft 11, the latter being dis-' posed transversely of the frame and being provided near one endwith a worm gear 12, with whichis associated a worm 13 operated by means of a crank 14. It will be understood, therefore, thatas the crank is rotated the. worm 13 will operate upon the worm wheel 12 to rotate the'shaft 11. This shaft is located upon the frame adjacent vto the position which the free swinging end of the tilting body will assume when in lowered position. I

The shaft llhas rigidly attached thereto a rotor indicated at 15. This rotor includes a pair of plates 16, of equal length,

I through the centers of WhiQhuthe shaft 11 extends, the latter being rigidly attached to the said plates. The plates are maintained in spaced parallel relation upon the shaft 11' and are connected to each other at their ends by cross members such as bolts indicated at 17. These bolts are spaced equidistant from the shaft 11. I

The mechanism for elevating or lowering the body includes'a plurality of toggle levers being connected end to end the outer end o'tone extreme toggle lever being connected with the body 10, while the outer end of the other extreme toggle lever being pivotally connected with the rotor 15. In the present instance there are three of such toggle levers employed, the same being indi- .cated at 1'8, 19 and 20. The toggle lever 18 Y is provided at one end with a head '21 of substantially circular formation, the said head including spaced annular plates as shown in Figure 6, and the opposite end of the said toggle lever comprises a pair of relativelysmaller heads 22 spaced apart and pivoted upon one of the bolts 17 of the rotor 15. The head plates 21 are slotted said slots being concentric with the pivotal connectioniof the saidleverwith the rotor 15, and the slots extending into the center or" the circular heads 21. The central portions of head plates-21 are provided with annular openings 24 concentric with the said head plates, and whlchreceive a rotary key member 25 carried by the inner end of toggle lever'19, the said toggle lever 19 including a pair of spaced plates of identical" I construction as shown 1n Figure 6 and fitting snugly but rotatably within the plates 21 of toggle lever 18. The lever 19, by rea son of the rotary key connection between the inner end thereof and the outer end of the vlever 18, pivots upon the said lever 18,

and islimited in its swinging movement in one direction upon the said lever 18 by means of the pin or stud 26 carried by lever 19 engaging with shoulder 27 of lever 18. It will be noted that this limit of movement is reached when the rear straight walls of faces of levers 18-19 are in alinement with each other. 1 safety lock 28 iscarried at the outer end of a leaf spring 29 secured to'the rear flat face of link 18 engages within a recess 30 in the rear surface of toggle lever 18 when levers 18-19 are extended and assists in preventmgthe said levers moving further. When extended, as shown in Figures 5, 6- and 7 an arcuate slot 31 in the inner end oflever 19 alines with the arcuate slot 23 in the adjacent end of lever 18,-the

said slots being concentric with each other and'of the same width and depth, the said slot 31 also passing into the rotary key 25.

The outer end of toggle lever 19 is provided with annular head members 32 of equal size and of identical construction with the heads 21 of lever 18, being provided with arcuate slots '33 opening to one side of the head plates and spaced from the center of head 21 a distance equal between the center of the last mentioned head and the pivot 17 of plate or lever 18. The slot 88 is concentrio with the center of head 21. Head plates 82 of lever 19 are provided with central keypieces or annular openings 341 receiving annular shoulders of the end toggle link 20, the latter being therefore capable of rotating upon head 82. The link or lever 20 fits snugly and rotatably between the spaced plates 32 at the outer end of lever 19, and is limited in its movement in one direction by engagement of the cooperating shoulders 36 at the rear of: head 32 and lever 20. These shoulders come into abutment with each other only when the rear straight face of lever 20 alines with the corresponding faceor lever 20 is provided with an opening 37 inwardly from one side thereof as at 23, by means of which it is pivoted as by a pin 38 to a bracket 89 secured to the movable body 10 of the vehicle.

VVhenthe body 10 is elevated to its extreme raised position, as shown in Figure 1 oil the drawings, the toggle levers 18192(l will be extended or longitudinally alined,

and the centers of levers 1918 will be alined handle 1 1 is rotated so as to move rotor 15 in counter-clockwise direction. As rotor 15 moves, the alined toggle levers 18-19-20 will move bodily downwards and when the pivot 17 to which lever 18 is'connected reaches "its lowest position, the pivot 17 at the opposite end of the rotor will pass intothe alined slots 2331 at the outer end of toggle lever 18. Continued counter-clockwise movement of rotor 15 then causes the joint between levers 18 and 19 to break, and the lever 18 then remains collapsed upon or within the rotor 15. As the rotor further moves, the pin 17 to which lever 18 is pivoted will move up and into the alined slots 33 in the pivotally connected heads of levers 19 and 20,

whereupon continued movement of the rotor will cause thejointbetween these levers to break. The device then resumes the position shown 111 Figure 2 of the drawings,

and in order to fully lower the body 10 the shaft-11 is rotated a quarter turn in counterclockwise direction, whereupon the body 10, will be brought down to rest upon the frame 8. b In this inanner,the toggle levers collapse This locking movement is assisted, furthermore, by the latch members'26 of spring leaves 29.

Lil)

By constructing the elevating device in the manner mentioned, it is at once apparent that a minimum amount only of exertion need be expended in raising and lowering the body 10. In the raising operation, the toggle levers will extend themselves'one at a time until the lifting mechanism has been fully unfolded, and by means of the worm and worm gear power drive, this operation is carried out withbut slight exertion. In the lowering operation, the said levers fall and nest themselves one within theother in regular order beginning withv the inner toggle lever, and the said levers are so constructed and assembled as to properly nest without danger of overlapping or becoming disalined and without danger of being jammed. It will be understood, of course, thatmore or less numbers of toggle levers may be employed as occasion requires.

' In order that the rotormay be brought to a stop when the levers 181920 have been fully extended, stop members 40 are secured to the plates 16 constituting the rotor 15 upon the inner sides thereof and adjacent to i the inner annular ends of the plates consti-,

tuting toggle lever 18.v These stops are so positioned'and the inner end of toggle lever 18 is so shaped that they will come into engagement with each other immediately upon the lever 18 being properly extended, and these stops lockthe rotor 15 and toggle member 18 against further relative movement to each other in the raising position.

While the above is a description of-the invention in its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that various changes in the minor details of construction and arrangement of parts maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the claims.

Having thus fully described my invention, 1 claim i 1. In a device of the class described, the combination of a support, a tiltable member, a rotor mounted on said support and including a pair of pins spaced equidistantly from the xi thereof and diametrically opposite v slots therein,

each other, a series of at least three toggle levers coupling said rotor to said tiltable member, the'termina'l leversbeing respectively pivoted at their outer ends to one of said rotor pins and the tiltable member and pivotally connected at their inner ends with theends of the intermediate i'toggle lever, the latter-named pivotal connections having the distance between the pivotal connections of said levers to each other being equal to the distancebetween the pins on said rotor, and the said slots in said pivotal connection adapted to receive and engage pins on said rotor, the construction being such that the levers are adapted to swing outwardly in extended relation in in nested arrangement with each other and the rotor, and means for transmitting motion to the rotor. p

2. In a device of the class described, the combination of a support, a tiltable member, a rotor mounted on said support and including a pair of pins. spaced equidistantly from the axis thereof and diametrically opposite each other, a series of at least three toggle levers coupling said rotorcto said tiltable member, the terminal levers being respectively pivoted at their outer ends to one of said rotor pins and the tiltable member and pivotally connected at their inner 'alinementwith each other and to collapse ends with the ends of the intermediate togcollapse in nested arrangement with each other and the rotor, a shaft on which the rotor isrnounted, a worm gear on said shaft,

a worm engaging said gear, and means for operating said worm.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of a support, a tiltable member,

a rotor having apair of pins spaced equidistantly from and on opposite sides of its axis, a series of at least three toggle levers coupling saidrotor to said tiltable member, thev terminal levers of said series being respectively pivotallyconnected at their outer ends'to one of the pins of the rotor and to the tiltable member, the said terminal levers of the series being pivotally connected at their inner ends with the inner ends-of the intermediate toggle lever, and the latter- I named pivotal connections having slots therein, said levers adapted to be extended in substantially longitudinal alinement and to fold upon their pivotal connections in nested arrangement With each other and with the rotor, andthe slots of the pivotal eonne'otions of the levers being adapted for engagement with the pins of-the rotor when said parts are nested together, means for '5 limiting the opening movements of the levers including spring locking members jmounted upon the intermediate levera-nd adapted for engagement with the adjacent ends of the terminal 1e'vers, a shaft carrying said rotor, a Worm gearing on said shaft, a Worm en- 10 gaging said gear, and means for transmitti'ng motion to said worm.

In testimony whereof I afiix my'si attire.

NICHOLAS W. 'K LE. 

